Blogging Trends and Predictions for 2014

Guest Post - Our host is Bernadette Silver, we are all excited going into a new year of blogging but what can we look forward to in 2014 ? Bernadette gives us her predictions for the next 12 months.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

It's that time of the year when all bloggers look back and reflect the rights and wrongs of the blogosphere, and see what might've been done to correct some mistakes we made. It's also time to look ahead towards the new year and predict what's going to happen in our own little big world of blogging:

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Latest Google Page Rank Update August 2012

I know you all keep a close eye on the page rank for your blogs, I have to admit I also look out for it.Google usually update toolbar page rank four times a year so around every three months.Well today we we have noticed a Major page rank update taking place.A number of my sites have seen a page rank change, at the time of writing Spice Up Your Blog is holding steady with a page rank of 5.You can quickly check the page rank of your blog to see if there was any change using our free page rank checker tool. :

Google Page Rank Tool
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Blogger Now Allow You To Choose The Permalink For Your Blog Posts

A few weeks back Blogger added a permalink feature to Blogger In Draft, Blogger In Draft is like a separate dashboard they use to test new features.You may have seen some Blogger related sites write about the permalink feature at the time.I held off covering the topic until the permalnk feature was added to the main dashboard.OK, If your thinking 'Test Dashboard' and 'Main Dashboard' what's he talking about, don't worry that's not important.The main point is every blogger user can now choose the URL for their posts.This leads to the next question 'What Is A Permalink?'.

What Is A Permalink

Every post you publish on Blogger has it's own URL or address.Until now this URL was automatically generated.Now however Blogger have giving the you the option to actually choose the URL that will be generated for your posts.

Why Use A Permalink

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New Google +1 Button And Google+ Badge For Blogger

Blogger today added two new options to the gadget gallery, the gadget gallery is a collection of gadgets you can add to your blog via the "Add A Gadget" option on your blog layout page.The two new options are for the new Google +, Firstly a Google +1 button for readers to recommend your blog, and secondly a Google + badge for readers to follow your Google+ updates.

Imagine being able to share your blog with like-minded people across the web. Today we’ve made doing that easier with the introduction of two Google+ gadgets, the +1 button and Google+ Badge.Unlike the +1 button that can appear below a post, this gadget is specific to your blog. Displaying it on your blog will allow visitors to endorse your blog and share it with their friends.

As stated above you can add these new gadgets to your blogs sidebar, footer or anywhere that accepts gadget.Simply go to your blog layout page, click Add A Gadget and choose the gadget you want.For the +1 button you have options for the style while to add the Google Plus badge you will need your profile or page ID (A link to instructions is provided).

Have you added Spice Up Your Blog to your circles, also check out the official Blogger post here.

Drop your comments and questions below.

From April 1st The New Blogger Dashboard Will Become Default

When checking back i was very surprised to see it was almost a year ago since Blogger introduced the new design on Blogger In Draft.April 20th 2011 to be exact as i explained in the post The New Blogger Dashboard And Design Is Live.After a few months in draft Blogger offered the option to use the new interface on the main blogger site.While some people took up the option and have become familiar with it, many including myself have continued to use the old dashboard.On the first of April however the new design will become default and we will all be using the new GUI.Over the last week I have been trying to familiarize myself with the layout and options of the new interface and it ain't been easy.

One of my main worries however is that hundreds of Blogger tutorials here on Spice Up Your Blog were wrote with instructions for the old dashboard.I have decided to edit all those posts over the next week and all future Blogger tutorials will be aimed at the new design.

On their part the Blogger team are constantly tweaking the new design and a send feedback link is placed in the bottom right of the page for your suggestions.If you remember when Facebook and Twitter changed their designs users were not happy but eventually seen the advantages I think it will be the same in this case.So whats your opinion and what changes would you like to see ?

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

Blogger Introduce Great New SEO Options

Blogger have upped the game in regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by introducing a number of options to make Blogger hosted blogs perform better in search results.The big changes include the option to easily add a blog description that search engines will crawl allowing you to tell them what your blog is about, even better is the option to add a short description to each individual post.Adding tags to your images has been made easier so they will perform better in search results and there is also a few more complicated options.

Blogger now provides web savvy users with the option to manage search engine preferences. SEO -- an acronym for Search Engine Optimization -- helps increase traffic to your blog and connect your content with the intended audience. For more background on SEO, read through this article in the Webmasters Help Center, and be sure check out their SEO Starter Guide (pdf).

Here is a run down of all the new SEO features
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Blogger Dynamic Views Templates Now Have Docked Slide Out Sidebar Gadgets

Blogger launched Dynamic Views templates in March last year.Dynamic Views work great on some blogs but they are not for everyone, one of the features lacking was a sidebar for gadgets.Today Blogger have gone some way towards fixing this with a slide out sidebar.The sidebar is docked on the side of the page and appears on hover.Not all gadgets can be added, at the moment gadgets supported in Dynamic Views include: Blog Archive, Followers, Labels, Profile, Subscribe (a new gadget - automatically present if either Follow By Email or Subscription installed), and Link List. These gadgets make it easier for your readers to navigate your blog (archive, labels), and to follow it (followers and RSS).
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Latest Google Page Rank Update Underway Feburary 2012

I know all bloggers and webmasters keep an eye on their sites Google Page Rank.In short Page Rank is an indication of how Google rank your site in a scale from 1 to 10.Check out a previous post with more on Google Page Rank.We have been expecting a Page Rank update by the end of January start of February and i can confirm today that update has started.This site has seen a page rank increase from 4/10 to 5/10, i know this only happened today from a stats on our BuySellAds.

How To Check Your Blogs Page Rank

If you have the Google Toolbar Installed you will see the little green bar with the current page Page Rank.Other wise use our Free Google Page Rank Checker Tool right here on Spice Up Your Blog.

Hope you got a Page Rank Increase, Let Us Know In The Comments !

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

How To Add The New Reply Button To Blogger Comments With Threaded Replies

One of the most popular posts on Spice Up Your Blog over the last few years has been "How to add comment replies to your blog".While that tutorial was a valid option to allow readers to reply to comments it did not place the reply to each comment in a threaded fashion.In fact many of the comments on that post asked was it possible to have the reply placed under the original comment.After so many many requests the Blogger Team have taken note and today Threaded comment replies are now available on Blogger.You can see on our comment form below comment have a reply button and the replies are placed below the original comment.

How to activate comment replies on Blogger

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New Features And Updates For Blogger

Over the last few weeks the Blogger team have been busy with some new updates and changes to existing features.
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Lightbox Image Overlay Effect Is Now Default On Blogger Blogs

Back in May this year i showed you how to add a jQuery Lightbox Image Overlay Effect For images on your blog.Today the Blogger team have made a version of this default on all blogs.Previously Images when clicked opened as a seperate page, with the lightbox effect images pop up with the background darkened also thumbnails of other images within the post are listed below.So just upload images as normal and they can be viewed in a brand new way.

Introducing Lightbox, the latest in a series of Blogger updates aimed at giving you an improved and modernized blogging experience. Lightbox is a whole new way to interact with photos. When clicked, images now expand into a shiny new overlay that displays them at their full size for optimal viewing.

Click the images below to see the effect in action.

Another great new feature for Blogger, check out the Blogger post on lightbox Here.

Drop your comments and questions below.

Google To Rename Blogger Google Blogs Picasa Also To Become Google Photos ?

Social Media Blog Mashable today broke the story that Google are planning to Re-Brand Blogger over the next few weeks.According to Mashable Blogger is to be re-named Google Blogs.Google will also Re-Name their image hosting site Picasa, it will become Google Photos(All images upload to Blogger are hosted on Picasa).This has not been confirmed by Google but the source would need to be reliable for Mashable to publish the story, they said


The transition from Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs will occur “in a month to a month and a half,” we’ve been told. The date aligns with the likely public launch of Google+.
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A New Blog This Google Chrome Extension For Blogger

Blogger and Google Chrome today made a 'Blog This' extension available for the Google Chrome Browser.Blog This lets you instantly share any web page on your blog.Once Downloaded simply clicking the Blog This icon in the browser address bar will open your Blogger post editor with a link to the page your on included in the editor.If you highlight some text on the page before clicking the Blog This button that text will also be pre-loaded into the post editor with the link.So for example if you wanted to share this post on your blog you would highlight a few lines of text, click your Blog This button and your post editor would open in a new window with that text and a link to this post already in place.
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New Blogger Feature - Add A Favicon To Your Blog

One of the things that can give a blog more of an identity and a brand is a logo that people will come to associate with the blog.In the same way we become used to seeing the logo of a blog also used as the favicon.Favicons are an important part of how we see a blog and how we remember a blog.In a previous Blogger Tip i showed you how to add a favicon to blogs on Blogger but today Blogger have taken action and made it part of the options on your blogs design page.So from now on with just two clicks you can add a custom favicon to your blog.



What is a favicon ? A Favicon is the small image you see beside the address bar in your browser and depending on the browser you use it is also visible in the tab menu.If you look beside the address for this page at the top of your page you should see the same brush logo that is in the header.For more information here is a link to the wikipedia page on Favicons.

To see how to have a custom favicon on your blog check out the blogger in draft post here - Customize Your Favicon.

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

New Official Blogger Gadget Add A Tip Jar For Donations To Your Blog

Blogger today released a brand new gadget to the gadget directory, it's a Google Checkout Tip Jar.Many blogs have a donate button on their blog usually from PayPal that allows readers to show their appreciation so it's not a new concept but a Google Checkout donation is.The gadget will be easy to add to your sidebar requiring only two clicks."We know that most of you blog for the sake of sharing your thoughts and opinions, however a little side income is like an unexpected gift".

Add The Google Checkout Tip Jar To Your Blog

Here are the steps as shown on the official Blogger Blog Blogger Buzz.

1. Sign up for a Google Checkout Merchant account at checkout.google.com/sell
2. Be sure to enable the HTML API by going to the Settings tab, clicking the integration link and unchecking the “My company will only post digitally signed carts” checkbox. Also, copy the Merchant Id for use in step 5.
3. Back in Blogger, on the Design | Page Elements tab click “add a gadget” where you wish to place the Support gadget.
4. Add the "Support My Blog" gadget from the gadget gallery.
5. Customize your support button settings. The Checkout Merchant Id is the one you copied down in step two. Save and you’re done!

Note - I was expecting this to be at the top of the gadget list like they do with most new gadgets but i had to search to find it.

Note 2 - Just seen only people in the United States and United Kingdom can sign up, hmmm i don't think PayPal are gonna get too worried about loosing business.

Will you add it and have you ever or would you ever donate to a Blog ?

Drop your Comments and Questions below.

A Day To Forget For Blogger

Blogger reported blogs were Read Only for 20.5 hours, gotta admit it felt like longer.During this time you couldn't access your blogger dashboard and your blogs comment form was also inaccessible.This was a pain but hey, Bloggers record when it comes to up time is second to none so it's excusable.What this did display is Blogger like most other Google services were found lacking when it came to customer service.In a recent post i wrote about Problems i had with AdSense and how contacting someone was imposable, now i don't expect Blogger to open phone lines but they could have keep users better informed.On Twitter Blogger did actually post regular updates but what if your not on Twitter, you had the status page and forum both with one sentence messages.



Back in November last year after a less serious problem the Blogger team published the post Improving Our Communication of Blogger Service Interruptions, they need to take another look.

Blogger being read only was the the big issue for me, a day away from my blogs is not a big deal.However having the whole system backed up by two days is major, not only were all posts and comments from them two days temporarily removed any edits you make to your blogs design were also gone.While the posts have been restored and most comments are also back i have seen no information on design changes, will they be restored or do we need to make the changes again ?

Blogger is back and i do believe this was a one off.As Spice Up Your Blog constantly displays I'm one of Bloggers biggest fans but Blogger and Google need to improve their communication skills.

Add The Brand New Facebook Send Button To Your Blog

Facebook have just created a brand new shiny button you can add to your blog for people to share your content.The button was released just today so it's not even a day old and you can be one of the first to have it on their blog, Yep people will be seeing it for the first time and checking it out on your blog ! So what is the new Facebook button and what does it do ?

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The New Blogger Dashboard And Design Is Live

Blogger today announced they have started the release of the New design Blogger Dashboard and User Interface Design.The release at first will be on Blogger In Draft, Quiet common for new releases but it will also be added to only some accounts at first .A random number of users will have the new Blogger dashboard from today when they log in via Blogger In Draft and over the next few days and weeks it will be added to more until all users have the new Dashboard in draft.Usually a new addition to blogger that is tested in draft finds its way on to the main blogger site within a week or two but a change this big could be longer.
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Blogger Launch 5 New Dynamic Views Templates

Blogger today launched 5 new templates that can totally transform how people view your blog.

"...These new views use the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3, to deliver a host of benefits to you and your readers : Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page, New layouts: different views suited to different types of blogs, Speed: download images as you view them, not all at once in advance, Interactivity: there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content..."

Blogger Dynamic Templates Video

View Your Blog With Dynamic Templates

You can see how your blog looks with these dynamic templates by simply adding /view to the end of your URL.So to view Spice Up Your Blog using these templates this would be the URL (Click the link to check it out in a new window):

www.spiceupyourblog.com/view

Helpful Links

Blogger are still working on these amazing designs and you can give your opinion - Dynamic Templates Feedback

Check out the Blogger post on these templates - Blogger Buzz

You can also get more help - Help Center Article


The Blogger team promised 2011 would be a big year and they are starting to deliver, these templates while still in infacy are simply Awesome !

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

BuySellAds.Com Review And Interview With Founder Todd Garland

In this post we will look at BuySellAds.Com (BSA), a site that makes selling direct advertising on your blog quick and easy while leaving you in control.I also have a short interview with Founder and CEO Todd Garland, Todd took the time to answer a few questions i thought would relate directly to Spice Up Your Blog readers.

BSA was created with the intention of taking the pain out of buying and selling ads, a process that otherwise is time consuming and frustrating.They also display your blog to potential advertisers you otherwise would not be able to attract, advertisers can find your blog in the BSA directory when searching for suitable publishers.

So lets first take a run through the process.

Quick Overview Of BuySellAds.Com

1. Submit your blog - BSA review all blogs before they can join the programme.Your blog must be established, have unique content and a healthy number of monthly impressions.

2. Create Your Ad Zones - Once accepted you can log in and create some zones for ads, Popular zones are the header and sidebar.The main script must be added first then you are provided with code for the actual area the ads appear - Create An Ad Zone Tutorial.

3. Advertise Here - Once you have the ad code in the zones the grey "Advertise Here" banner will appear.Visitors to your blog can click on the banner to view your directory page and purchase ads.

4. Ad Sold - As soon as an advertiser buys an ad the Advertise Here banner will automatically be replaced with their ad.

5. Cash Out - You can request a cash out via Paypal, Cheque or wire transfer once you have $50 Now $20 in your account.

6. Our Fancy Colorful Effects On Banners - You may have noticed the cool effect we use on the BuySellAds banners.Find out how to create it on your blog here : Buysellads.com banner ad effect tutorial.

Remember you are in control of the ad spots you make available, the price you charge and you can change your settings so you have to pre-approve any ads before they are displayed.You can get a full list of help articles from installing the ad zones to getting paid here - BuySellAds Help

Interview With BSA Founder Todd Garland

I asked the BSA Founder and CEO a few questions, here is what he had to say.

Spice Up Your Blog - I notice most of the sites selling ads on BuySellAds are in the Technology And Web Design Niche.First, do you accept sites from all niches and have you advertisers looking to advertise on other niches ?

Todd Garland - Yes, we accept sites form all niches, from cupcakes, to weddings, to motorcycle blogs and more. We are much stronger in the tech than other verticals, but we’re always working to increase activity for both advertisers and publishers across many verticals outside of tech.

SUYB - As most of my readers are Blogger users have you a policy when it comes to accepting blogs using the Blogger Sub Domain (Blogspot) ? I hear blogs using the sub domain are less likely to be accepted.

TG - That is correct. In our experience, .blogger sites tend to have lower traffic than is required to sell ads directly to advertisers with a system like BSA. Sure, there are edge cases and this does not apply to all .blogger sites.

SUYB - Are the links in the Ads Do-Follow ?

TG - We don’t specify. The ads are served us using JavaScript and we do not sell them with the intent of the ads passing any SEO value.

SUYB - Apart from Impressions what do you think is a sites main selling point (Alexa Rank, Page Rank, Followers, Fans etc..) ?

TG - I think it’s the quality of content on their site and the number of existing advertisers they have.

SUYB - What tips if any would you give to users to help sell more ads ?

TG - Write the best content you can write, hustle, and grow your community.

Sponsored Tweets

At the time of writing BuySellAds.Com have just launched a new feature called Sponsored Tweets.As the name suggests advertisers can "Buy A Tweet" on your Twitter account.For more information check out the BSA Blog Post On Sponsored Tweets.

You can view the Spice Up Your Blog listing on BuySellAds.Com or Submit Your Blog to BuySellAds.Com and start selling ads today.

Drop Your Comments, Views And Questions Below.